Javert's Encounter
by Klep-o
Summary: Javert reflects on Jean Valjean. He later runs into him while Valjean is trying to escape.


Authors Note: I am a fan of the arts, and since I love Les Miserables so much I decided that it is my duty to write a fan fiction about it

Authors Note: I am a fan of the arts, and since I love Les Miserables so much I decided that it is my duty to write a fan fiction about it. I try to get the people as much in character as I can…this is in Javert's point of view.By the way, I own no one from the book "Les Miserables". 

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I have seen the law make or break people. The law is the only thing that keeps this horrible world from collapsing on our very heads. It is to be respected above anything else, and all shall be enforced to those who are see fit. This is why, Jean Valjean, a common thief, should be sentenced to hard work in the galleys for the rest of his life. Not just for insulting the very thing that the law stands for, but he is an embarrassment to the law.

I am Police Inspector Javert, and I am currently searching for this man, this common convict that has out-witted my men and me. I was wrong to underestimate him I know that now, but in the end it is he who will suffer, not I. 

I recall the first time I saw him. I wasn't inspector then. What you have to understand is that, in the galleys, you are no longer known as man. You become a mere number…

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_"Another fight has broken out!" said an officer behind me._

_"Who is it?" I asked sharply._

_"Prisoner 24601!" said the officer rushing past me with a gun in his arms._

_It had been the third time this week. I decided to look up on this troublemaker, and found out later his name was Jean Valjean. He had escaped three times and caught three times, which racked up nineteen years. _

_"Pity" I murmured while putting back his file. "That ignorant fool would have been out already if he didn't run off." Which proved my theory that nature reveals to us that we are either lawbreakers or law abiders…Jean Valjean was living proof._

_I had seen him many times, causing trouble, and made him pay dearly for his little stunts. It was satisfying to see everyone else in their beds of straw, asleep, while Jean Valjean worked in the quarry's late at night under my supervision. Scowling at me while I calmly watched him move large objects from one place to another._

_About a year later, I was transferred and promoted to Police Inspector. I had a chance to prove myself in Paris. Upon that time I need not tell you of the insult of Valjean becoming a Mayor, an insult to the law. I have reason to believe he is finding the daughter of the woman I arrested a couple of years ago…which lead's me to where I am now…_

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Valjean had been spotted walking around with a little girl some miles away from Paris.I had assumed right that he would come for the girl. I should have known better to believe the papers, saying Valjean was dead. A mistake that will not happen again I assure you. This momentarily blinded me, but I was still in the chase. 

But before I ran to get help to arrest that man, I had to confirm that it is really he. The horror of arresting an innocent bystander is enough to make one cringe with embarrassment. He had already embarrassed the law by becoming Mayor, escaping confinement four times, and fooling us all to think someone else was he. I will not be embarrassed again. 

If I had known what scene would lie before me the night I went to the woods, I would have been better prepared. 

I was visiting a little town somewhere away from Paris and went outside for a pinch of snuff. I hadn't thought twice about abandoning the bar. Officers, or so they call themselves, were getting drunk and I left in disgust. Walking away from the voices of men singing out of tune I found a quiet tree to relax by. It was a dark night but I could see the light from the lantern in the street. 

The sound of footsteps in the snow broke my concentration. Turning my head to the sound I saw Jean Valjean for the first time in a long time. He was carrying a girl of six or seven in his arms, and was walking in a wary pace. Not wanting to attract attention to myself I hide behind the tree I was near, and watched him slowly walk on. He was wearing a rather ugly yellow cloak, and I made note of that in my small notebook. Indeed, the man sighted was Jean Valjean.

I walked silently towards the bar. By a mistake I stepped on a stick causing a loud snapping noise, making the sound of heavy footsteps in the snow stop. I realized my other mistake was to expect help from the officers in the bar. Obviously I had forgotten that they were probably too drunk to even understand that there was such thing of a man named Valjean. 

The footsteps started again, but I could sense more caution in there sound. People might ask me why I don't just take him on right then and there. I will tell you why, he is simply bigger than I am, stronger than I am, and if he were to injure me I doubt anyone in the bar was to hear it, much less be coordinated to help me. But I didn't feel this at the time. I gripped my nightstick that was concealed in my coat. Waiting until the footsteps got closer I jumped out of what must have seemed to him like nowhere I shouted, "VALJEAN!"

He must have jumped ten feet in the air; Seven at the least. He turned around sharply and dropped the girl. 

"Javert!" He exclaimed. I was pleased to see fear in his eyes. The girl was now hugging his leg, terrified.

"You are under arrest!" I said gripping my nightstick with my left hand and pulling out my handcuffs with my right. My handcuffs seemed to be stuck in my belt. Cursing I looked down to untangle it, which was a big mistake…when I looked up, I saw in alarm Valjean holding a staff. "Thwack" was the last sound I heard before blacking out.

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I woke up in bed sometime later. My head hurt a lot then my memory came back to me. A man in uniform came out to greet me. 

"Inspector Jarvet? That was some blow to the head." He said. I could tell he was of high rank. 

"Where is he?" I said forgetting that Valjean was not the subject he was talking about.

"Where is who?" The man said.

"Valjean! I think I know where he is going." I said ignoring the pain in my head.

That same day I marched a group of officers in the woods. We found Valjean near a gate of the city…

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Authors Note: Wow, I really liked writing that. It wasn't as much work this time around. I don't know if I want to continue it though. I'm sorry if it wasn't entirely correct timing in the book. (I haven't even finished the book.) I _did watch the movie though and enjoyed it very much. Review, although I don't know if there are enough fans out there that read this…_


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